Information for Notaries

Notaries, in full accordance with their responsibilities, often accept a driver's license as the form of ID, and write that number in their journal. This then creates a record that falls under the definition of personal information (and makes the whole journal subject to data protection regulations). Per notary regulations, notaries should not be accepting Social Security numbers.

Steps for notaries

Ensure your journal is locked up any time it is not in use, and ensure the key is not readily available to unauthorized individuals (This is also an existing notary requirement.)

If your journal is stolen while at MIT, immediately contact MIT Campus Police, and be sure to let them know that the journal contained confidential personal information – they should then contact infoprotect@mit.edu. If you lose the journal, and do not think theft was involved, then you should contact infoprotect@mit.edu yourself.

When your journal is full, or you are no longer serving as a notary, keep the journal securely locked, as per the notary regulations. At the end of the retention required per notary rules, the journal must then be "redacted, burned, pulverized, or shredded so that the data cannot practicably be read or reconstructed." In other words, a strip cut shredder is not considered sufficient; cross-cut shredders or a certified shredding service should be used.